Introduction
Seattle to New York
New York
New York to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver to Seattle
Conclusion

Thursday 23rd May 2013

As I paniced my way through a long, extremely busy day in the office, trying to get everything tied up prior to my long weekend, all I could do was think about what laid ahead.  It didn’t help as I chatted along with people on the phone about weekend plans and with them thinking I am pretty insane.  As the end of my shift grew nearer all I wanted to do was hit the road and get to SeaTac, however it was around 3pm when I got the bad news via Tripit.  Inbound flight delay 🙁  O well!  At least it meant I didn’t have to hurry to the airport and that was a good thing as the 405 was a parking lot as usual.

I actually made pretty good time to the airport after leaving work as I took a back way to cut through a good majority of the traffic and actually managed to get through to the airport in around 45 minutes, suprising cause it usually takes an hour!  After parking the truck and hopping on the shuttle, I was at the airport before that usual hour was up.  Pity that meant I had 4 more till my flight was due to leave pretty much.

I headed towards the Jetblue counters and checked myself in, trying to talk my way into an exit row without any cost.  The agent told me he could’t waive the cost but that it would only be $35 for my flight.  I jumped at the chance cause it would normally be $65 however about 2 seconds after I said that he said he made a mistake and it would be the proper price.  Bad move!! He wouldn’t honour what he said so I walked away with my window seat intact and a tip from him to “try again at the gate” with a wink.

From Memorial Day Firsts

I headed off for a bit of an explore of all the new check in desks as there had been some major reshuffles with United moving from the North to the B gates. American, Jetblue and Frontier moving from A to D. Delta consolidating all to the south, along with Alaska moving the majority of it’s gates to the North and still a smattering here and there at some other areas. Confusion I am sure for just about everyone!

From Memorial Day Firsts

From Memorial Day Firsts

What it meant was shiny new check in counters for both Delta & United. How shiny? Well Delta’s opened that morning! It looked good to and if this was anything to go by for T4 in New York, well I was looking forward to tomorrow! Since I was all the way down in the Southern end anyway, I decided against back tracking to security closer to my gates. It was smarter as well as security was quiet and I only waited because the TSA agent checking my ID was busy chatting with a collegue till the collegue pointed that someone was standing in front of her. I wasn’t in a rush so I didn’t mind the extra 15 seconds of waiting time. Hell I was tempted to go for a TSA Grope if they pointed me towards the backscatter machines to waste some time (and my hard earned tax payer dollars).

From Memorial Day Firsts

From Memorial Day Firsts

Once through security my main focus was to find some power for my laptop and log into work to finish stuff off since I wanted to make sure my inbox was empty before I flew out.  My plan was get it empty and then not touch it till Tuesday.  I had plenty of other work to do if I was going to do anything.  I scoured the terminals for something resembling a desk and a power point, but there wasn’t much of anything till I found some by the D gates, about 4 up from where my flight was departing.  Good location right?  I plonked myself down, connected to the free wifi, started charging my phone so it would have as much power as possible for when I hit the ground in New York and got stuck into it.

From Memorial Day Firsts

Time passed pretty quickly and I didn’t even really notice my surroundings.  A couple of tweets and about an hour or so later my inboxes were all empty (personal and work), blogs caught up on and I was getting a tad sleepy.  Coffee time!  I packed up my stuff and as I turned around, what should be sitting opposite the gate… Salmon Thirty Salmon.  HAH! I was to busy working I hadn’t noticed the rarest of rare birds sitting behind me!

From Memorial Day Firsts

I headed off to Starbucks for a coffee and went all the way back to the main food court because it would give my legs a stretch and because well, I didn’t want to use any cash when I could get a coffee off one of the cards I had been given.  Slow stroll through the terminal looking around, people watching, perving, thinking.  All the things you do when you have time in a terminal right?  I was totally relaxed.  No stress of work, just not thinking at all.  We were only meant to be delayed about 20 minutes or so and that was not a big deal.

From Memorial Day Firsts

I headed back towards the gate as I wanted to try the exit row trick again, and when I did, the last aisle seat was taken already (windows were gone days ago) so I sat down and read my book for a while and munched on a couple of cookies I had stashed in my bag from my work stash (which were actually from my last VX flight) being in a “meh” kind of mood.  The delay kept on adding up though as the aircraft just was not showing up at all.  When it should of arrived it was no where in site and my brain went into “O SHIT” mode.

My plans upon arrival in New York had been pretty solid.  I was to hit the ground running at JFK  Caffinated up from the flight I had booked a cheap car (thank you Dial 7) to take me to the hotel, where I could drop my bag and hit the gym at the hotel for a run or a quick workout before a shave and shower and getting my butt back on a train to the airport.  Well that workout was now in jeapoardy and if things got any worse so would my shave (a shower I was determined to keep if i could).  I would have to really be on the ball if I wanted to get back to JFK in time for the hour window I had to get photos.  If push came to shove I could scrap the photo plans and just do the media proceedings at 1030 onwards.

I was thinking through my situation and decided that if I wanted to get things done quickly I should just try and get as close to the front as possible, no matter what the seat was. I could deal with a middle seat for 5 hours if I could get out of the aircraft quickly and cleanly (but I would have to wait for my bag anyway).  So I saw my opportunity with a nice young girl manning the gate and took the opportunity to put on a bit of charm and a smile and see where that would get me.  Pretty soon I had a fresh boarding pass and had just traded a window seat for a middle, but the middle seat was row 4 and had the “Even More Space” leg room.  I knew it was going to probably be an uncomfortable red eye flight, stuck between two people and probably not able to leave my seat all that much but it could be worse…. I could have a middle seat in the rear of the aircraft.

From Memorial Day Firsts

From Memorial Day Firsts

With that I repacked my bag so that all the stuff I would need during my flight was all in one bag so that when I stowed my camera bag I wouldn’t need to access it, since I knew there was chance in hell that was going to happen.  The aircraft eventually turned up and that’s when the scrum started.  There was people EVERYWHERE.  I couldn’t not join them either because if I didn’t get overhead bin space I was boned!  There was no way I was going to be able to gate check my camera bag… no way in hell!  Eventually the flight boarded half an hour after we wee due to originally depart which meant a good half hour till departure.  A solid hour late!  Definately no gym now!

When the flight was called it was as though someone had thrown some fries into a flock of seagulls.  People came from everywhere and no where and they pushed, they shoved, it was on for young and all.  My main desire was get onboard, get my stuff stored, get the phone switched off to conserve power (since Jetblue don’t have power onboard) and try to settle in as much as possible.

It was an almost full flight with as far as I could see one empty seat in the same row as me but my focus was my book as we eventually pushed back, safety demo’d and headed for the 16s.  Being a red eye flight it was dark outside by now so it wasn’t as if I could take photos and since I wasn’t in the window anyway I took a quick couple of snaps and stashed the camera as well.  What can you do when your jammed in the middle?  But it was my decision in the first place!  Next time, remember your rules Malcolm.  Red Eye flight, Aisle Seat.  Daylight flight, Window seat.

From Memorial Day Firsts

From Memorial Day Firsts

From Memorial Day Firsts

We climbed out and it was a pretty uneventful climb out as they asked everyone to close their window blinds since this was a “Snooze” service.  They ran through the order of service was went as follows:

1. Distribution of “Snooze Kits” (Eye Shades & Ear Plugs)
2. Selling of Snack Boxes/Headphones/Blankets etc
3. Drink orders
4. Drink distribution
5. Snack offering

Did I just say snacks? Well yes I did.  Delta gives either Biscoffs, Peanuts or Pretzels.  Jetblue offers a whole lot more.  Blue Chips, Corn Chips Nuts, Popcorn Chips, Chips and even cookies!  Score!  Also the drinks were full cans!! I munched down my dinner which at this stage was almost 11pm just as drinks were being distributed and grabbed a bag of nuts to round out my dinner.  Once that was all cleared and the cabin headed off into sleep land, my task was now to keep myself awake and work.  It was going to be a solid 36 hours of non stop awake time and I was determined to be productive.

From Memorial Day Firsts

I pulled out the laptop and set to work, switching from watching Iron Chef on the tv (Battle Turkey Wings for those watching at home) to listening to SiriusXM.  I have to admit Jetblue have it nailed down pretty good, I was impressed.  Free snacks, free drinks, free entertainment.  The Even More Space seats up front had HEAPS of leg room (way more than I needed) the only thing it needed was a half decent frequent flier program and I would be pretty loyal.

My #1 criteria lately for airline judging had been drink size.  United gave full size coffee cups but tiny tiny cups of soda.  Delta gave big cups of Soda but tiny tiny cups of coffee.  Alaska just gave tiny cups of both and well Virgin just was slow at giving anything at all when you order it.  Jetblue was pretty generous.  Full size cans for soft drinks (or double small cans for things like tomato juice etc) or a normal 10oz coffee cup for the hot liquids.  The coffee was good to… Dunkin Donuts!

From Memorial Day Firsts

After finishing up my work and some of the trip report, I switched the laptop off, snacked on some cookies and channel surfed pretty much till the “wake up” service was offered.  With a tail wind and a reduced flight time, maybe we could make up sometime (yeah right).  I pretty much went between the tv channels of food network, map and the news shows till we started to descend.  Towards the end of the flight I could smell fresh coffee on the brew and I knew the “wake up” service was going to begin.

From Memorial Day Firsts

Jetblue on their red eyes offers a wake up service on their red eyes.  So about 45 minutes prior to landing they will offer a round of water, orange juice or coffee to those who are awake.  Again the cabin crew in my area didn’t use a trolley at all, he hand carried around the bottles of water and then out came the coffee.  Once that was all done then came another suprise… a “Hot Towell”.  Though by the time that I got mine it was cold.  But even still it wasn’t what you would expect for an economy service.  Very impressed with Jetblue.  If only they had some decent FF parnters.

The flight started to descend and because pretty much everyone had their window shades shut still it meant that I had no idea where we were and couldn’t see a damn thing.  The map didn’t help much.  There was no real time pick up in the delay so that did not help at all.  I had pretty much canned the thought of any gym workouts at all, and with the live shots of the news showing rain all weekend, I had given into the fact that most of my plans for the weekend were going into the trash.  Damn!!

Eventually we came into final descent and the seat mate to the left of me in the window woke up and opened his blind… finally.  I was just happy to be able to see things.  Meant that I could see and even though I had no idea where we were, some landmarks came into view and then I saw a Costco and thought “so thats where all my friends spot from”.  We touched down pretty effortlessly right next to T5 and that was that.  My first jetblue flight was over.

We taxiied quickly over to T5 and I was out of the aircraft fairly quickly which was good, though I now had to wait for my bag.  T5 looks pretty good and was very impressed.  I knew I was on the East Coast where the line for Dunkin Donuts was the longest around.  Compared to the west coast where it would of been the line for Starbucks (which funnily enough was not in site anywhere that I could see).  The bags took a bit of time and they didn’t come out at all.  Which was suprising because I was at the Baggage Carosel they had said.  Apart from the fact it was going to a different one!  Went over there and a minute or to later the bags started spitting out.  My bag was about 30th out.

From Memorial Day Firsts

From Memorial Day Firsts

From Memorial Day Firsts

Bag in hand, phone dialled off to the city I go!

Introduction
Seattle to New York
New York
New York to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver to Seattle
Conclusion

This is probably one of my craziest introductions. Lately when I told people what I was doing for memorial day they looked at me wierdly.. and asked one thing… Why? My reply…. “Because I can”.

This all stems back a number of years, when I first started reading about points and I saw a trip report from either Lucky or Gary (I don’t remember which) on Cathay Pacific First Class. I saw it and I was hooked. I had to fly it one day. Well that eventually was going to come to fruition. My friend Charles flew it last year when he came to visit this side of the country and he told he how easy it was to fly JFK to YVR on Cathay First Class using American points. Using Qantas points was just stupid as it would of cost me way to many. How do I get enough American points to do this… well 1 credit card churn is all it took. Once I got my credit rating the first thing I did was apply for an American Airlines Citibank card. 50,000 points later (after like $2000 in spend in 4 months.. pfft whatever) and I was set. Finding the availability was a whole other story.

Eventually after plenty of planning i managed to get the flight booked in and the total outlay was $2 in taxes. I scoffed at this on the phone. Then the agent remembered the phone reservation fee. Dammit. $25 added on. Still a $3500 airfare one way from New York to Vancouver for $27… Hell YES!

So one flight set. Now how the hell do I get to New York. I managed to find a cheap one way flight on Jetblue and then booked that. Crap… now I have to get from Vancouver back home to Seattle. Can’t drive, that won’t work. So I ended up checking Amtrak vs Bolt Bus. Bolt wins. Mal’s taking the Bus! From an Economy Seat to a First Class Suite to a Bus… talk about differences. Here is what a crazy ass itinerary looks like on a map:

So with that all booked in.  I was flying out on the Jetblue red eye on Thursday night (which is tonight actually!) and then I was not flying to Vancouver till Saturday night at 10pm so I would actually have some time to see New York.  I managed to get a really good rate on a room in New York at the Eventi, which is a Kimpton Hotel.  I did status match over (and I talked about that in the past).  This was planned to be my first stay at a Kimpton but my Portland trip fixed that.  So that was the east coast covered.  What about the West.  2 nights were required in Vancouver as I got in on Sunday morning at 1am.  So I tried my trusty old friend the Fairmont Vancouver Airport.  They came to the party with their usual cheap rates and I was set.

Fast forward till to about a week or so ago and I find out that I will be in New York for the opening of the new Delta T4.  So a few emails back and forth and hey presto.  Mal has  press invite.  It did mean I was going to have make quick turns on arrival in New York but hey it would be worth it.  My plans got all changed up and it meant I wouldn’t be able to go spotting anymore in New York but I would keep it for Vancouver.  Also found out that a friend would be in New York on the Friday so that solidified my evening plans hanging out with her.

So in the end it looked like this:

Thursday 23rd May – Jetblue B682 Seattle to New York 2130/0545+1
Friday 24th May – Delta T4 Opening, New York fun and Frivolities – Eventi Hotel New York
Saturday 25th May – New York during the day, Cathay Pacific CX889 2200/0130
Sunday 26th May – Fairmont YVR Airport, Spotting, Avgeek Fun
Monday 27th May – Bolt Bus – Vancouver to Seattle

It would mean I have a whole heap of firsts for me:

1. First Transcon Red Eye
2. First flight on Jet Blue
3. First flight on Cathay Pacific
4. First flight Trans Con in First Class
5. First Media Event NOT in Seattle (trips don’t count)

So Stay tuned, This one is going to be indulgent!

Well I have been back for about 2 weeks now, and the trip looking back was damn crazy. I can’t believe I almost missed the wedding ceremony. I mean seriously, the whole reason for going to Australia and I come so close to missing it. That would of been shame that I could not of lived with at all!

Lets look at some of the things in the trip though the good and the bad.

Bad – Long Haul Economy. It’s never good, it always sucks but this flight with VA wasn’t their best but it wasn’t the worst flight I have ever had either. It was “so so”, not really worth talking much about.
Bad – Qantas First Class Suite Windows – My one and only complaint about that Qantas flight was the fact I couldn’t see out the window cause the seat is so far away from the window. I mean seriously if thats the worst thing about an experience like that….. damn!
Bad – Rydges Capital Hill Canberra – Service failures across the board… way to go Rydges.. not going back thats for sure!
Good – Chrysler 300C – Love this car… enough said.
Good Yet Bad – Radisson LAX – They always seem to come through on the upgrades but then they always have failures of some kind. This time it was the bed (though in the times I have stayed there the bed has never worked anyway)
Good – Langham Melbourne – Absolutely Loved this hotel, definately staying at Langhams when I can afford it!
Good – Qantas First Class…. i <3 it. I want to do it again... right now... please! This trip was worth every cent (though I didn't pay for the flight down), the hard earned points (140,000) and the $350 in Fuel surcharges were totally worth it. I still have a bucket load of Qantas points so now that I have that dream flight done, where to look next? I should of earned a good portion of points on this trip from Virgin, however for some reason I am still chasing the Virgin America points. Freaking stupid that I have to do retro claims, it is always the same with Virgin America. Virgin Australia domestic points posted practically the same day, however the long haul flight took almost 3 weeks! Totally not cool Virgin Australia! But all in all I did manage to get my 4 minimum segments, so I am a gold for another 12 months :D All in all I spent an ungodly amount of time in the air, almost 18000 miles travelled, for 4 nights back home in Aus, 3-5 hours with my folks, getting to see my friends and family. Was it worth it? Hell yes!